Stream Team Program

Bourbeuse River Clean Stream

Dolores Swoboda shared the history of Bourbeuse River Clean Stream and how the concerned citizens of the Bourbeuse River Association met after the devastating floods of 1982 to voice opposition to the Army Corps of Engineers’ proposal to dam the Bourbeuse for flood control. In 1984 the Association started a massive campaign to raise awareness of the Bourbeuse. A short year later they began their annual cleanups. When approached by Stream team to become a member in 1989, Dolores mused that “the rest is history.” Their accomplishments include annually cleaning the entire length of the Bourbeuse River and monthly visits to Reiker Ford Access to keep it clean. Leonard Benter said the Team has picked up more than 125 tons of trash since starting out. We thank this dedicated crew for all their hard work over the years keeping the Bourbeuse a clean, healthy river!

Open Space Council

The Open Space Council of St. Louis has been active longer than the Stream Team Program has existed, but common goals prompted the environmental group to join forces with Missouri Stream Team in 1989. Executive Director Ron Coleman told us how even after years of degradation by raw sewage, trash dumps, unregulated club houses, and extensive mineral extraction, a few dedicated conservationists and government officials still recognized the beauty and value of the Meramec River––and thus Operation Clean Stream was born in 1967. Now in their 42nd year, drawing over two thousand individuals annually on the fourth Saturday in August, Operation Clean Stream can be considered “an amazing river renaissance,” says Ron, which “can be heralded as one of the longest and largest ongoing river restoration projects of its kind in America today.” Ron commends the partnering agencies for 20 years of empowering volunteers. We commend Open Space Council for their many years of outstanding achievements.

Roubidoux Fly Fishers Association and the Ft. Leonard Wood Seabees

Mark Van Patten grew up fishing Roubidoux Creek and was discouraged by how badly it was trashed. He formed the RFFA in 1988, in part to clean up the creek, so, becoming Stream Team #1 in 1989 was just the natural thing to do. Since then, they have remained active and recruited hundreds of volunteers to take part in their annual cleanups––including elected officials. “In 1990, Lt. Governor Carnahan led 200 people to clean almost nine tons of trash from the creek, and in 1992, Governor Ashcroft led nearly 300 people in a similar creek cleanup, removing 14.7 tons of trash. Film crews from five TV stations covered the event,” said Chuck Tryon as he reflected on fond memories. He says he likes the publicity that the Program brings to stream conservation, and we like the way RFFA has taken advantage of that publicity to continue their good deeds for all these years.

Ladue Middle School

Elizabeth Peterson joined the Program on December 4, 1989 and formed the Ladue Middle School Stream Team. She says, “It’s scary to think that it’s been 20 years! Wow. I was a stay-at-home mom who wanted to take her kids down to the creek and couldn’t because it was in such bad condition. Others wouldn’t help me with the broken sewage lines, so it was Stream Team that helped me fight back.” Armed with 7th Grade students at Ladue, she has spent the last 20 years cleaning up litter and teaching chemistry to her students through water quality monitoring. Her enlightened students are our future leaders!